Prince turned down a role in ‘The Fifth Element’ because he hated the costumes
Luc Besson’s 1997 sci-fi film, The Fifth Element, starred Chris Tucker as Ruby Rhod, helping the actor gain widespread recognition. However, the role was initially offered to music legend Prince, who cited his distaste for the costumes as one of the reasons for turning the part down.
On a recent episode of The View, Whoopi Goldberg asked Tucker about the movie, leading him to recall when he met Prince in a club. The actor explained, “He said, ‘You played that part in Fifth Element. I was supposed to play that part.’ I said, ‘For real?’ He said, ‘Well, I didn’t like the costumes. I didn’t like those.’ And I looked at him, and I said, ‘But you got your butt hanging out your pants!’ He said, ‘But this is my design, my design.'”
The film’s costume designer, Jean Paul Gaultier, also shared his experience with meeting Prince in 2016. At an exhibition at the Brooklyn Museum, the iconic designer revealed (via Consequence), “I showed [Prince] my drawings, but he didn’t say a word.”
“I had had an idea for a really funny costume with netting which quite long body hair would pass through, and I had done front and back versions of it. […] I slapped my buttocks to show him how the back of the costume would be designed.” In response, he got a “Charlie Chaplin kind of look.”
According to Besson, Prince also turned down the role due to a hectic touring schedule clashing with shooting.
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